News of the Day From Across the Nation

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Published 4:00 am, Saturday, May 5, 2012

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1 Supermoon: The biggest and brightest full moon of the year arrives Saturday night. The event is a "supermoon," the closest full moon of the year. The moon will be about 221,802 miles from Earth, or about 15,300 miles closer than average. That proximity will make the moon appear about 14 percent bigger than it would if the moon were at its farthest distance, said Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington.

2 Sex trafficking: A federal jury in Nashville split its verdict Friday against nine people accused of operating a sex trafficking ring run mostly by Somali refugee gang members, convicting three men and acquitting six. The defendants are among 30 who were indicted in the case that spans from Minnesota to Ohio and Tennessee. Idris Ibrahim Fahra, Andrew Kayachith and Yassin Abdirahman Yusuf were found guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion. No sentencing date has been set.

3 Gay rights: Nebraska cities can't adopt ordinances protecting people from discrimination for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender because the state's antidiscrimination laws don't extend to sexual orientation, the state attorney general said in a legal opinion issued Friday. Critics predicted the opinion by Attorney General Jon Bruning will be invalidated in court.

Elementary school in Oakland opens time capsule from 1927San Francisco Chronicle

Brides of March walk through San FranciscoSan Francisco Chronicle

WildCare rescues Western scrub jay from rodent glue trapWildCare

The Regulars: The CarpenterJessica Christian

Massive fire in San Francisco's North BeachDavid Essling

4 Terrorism: A teenager from Pakistan pleaded guilty Friday in Philadelphia to helping a woman dubbed "Jihad Jane" support a terror cell planning to wage a Muslim holy war in Europe. Mohammad Hassan Khalid, 18, faces up to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Khalid met Colleen LaRose online when he was 15. LaRose, who converted to Islam and called herself "Jihad Jane," faces life in prison after admitting last year that she had plotted to kill an artist whose cartoon had offended Muslims.

5 Animals returned: An Ohio zoo on Friday returned five exotic animals to a woman whose husband released dozens of wild creatures last fall before he committed suicide. Two leopards, two primates and a bear had been held at the Columbus zoo since October. Marian Thompson took the animals back to the farm where her husband released 50 animals - including black bears, mountain lions and Bengal tigers - before he committed suicide. Authorities killed most of the animals, fearing for the public's safety.

6 Protesters convicted: A judge on Friday convicted Princeton University professor and civil rights activist Cornel West and 19 other activists of disorderly conduct in a protest outside a New York City police station. One activist received two days of community service. The rest were sentenced to time served, the relatively brief period they were in custody after their arrests. The case stemmed from an Oct. 21 demonstration against a police practice of stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking people on city streets.